I am using the following playlists for this research, composed by Spotify and Digster Nederland:
Coffeehouse:
1. Coffeehouse - Feel the vibe of the Coffeehouse playlist, full of relaxing singer-songwriter an pop music.
2. 't Koffiehuis - 'n Bakkie en gemoedelijke muziek op de achtergrond.
3. Your Favorite Coffeehouse - Curl up in your favorite spot with some sweet, mellow tunes...
On the Road:
1. Classic Road Trip Songs - The ultimate playlist to fuel your good mood while on the road.
2. Onderweg - Met deze playlist heb je altijd de beste hits bij de hand voor onderweg.
3. Road Trip - Go on a weekend getaway with your barkada and your favorite hits!
The Coffeehouse playlists have a mean track popularity of 52.38 (SD = 25.751), whereas the On the Road playlists have a higher mean track popularity of 61.68 (SD = 29.766). This makes sense, since the On the Road playlists contain more songs that everyone can sing along to, and are thus familiar to a large audience.
I expect that energy of the On the Road playlists is much higher than for Coffehouse playlists. While on the road, you need to stay awake, so most songs have a loud beat. Coffeehouse songs, on the other hand, sound more quiet and peaceful. Spotify measured that the average energy in On the Road songs is 0.6131 (SD = 0.295) and 0.3596 (SD = 0.262) in Coffehouse songs. Indeed, energy seems to be much higher in On the Road playlists.
Characteristic for mellow Coffeehouse songs is their high acousticness (0.6589, SD = 0.347). The playlists contain mostly easy, soft songs that are accompanied by piano or guitar without much of electronic sounds. The acousticness of these playlists is thus, as expected, much higher than for On the Road playlists (0.2932, SD = 0.353).
I experience the On the Road playlists to be happier than Coffeehouse playlists, since these songs sound more uplifting to me. Spotify has generated a measure for valence: the higher the valence value, the happier the song. According to this measure, On the Road playlists are happier (0.4709, SD = 0.304) than Coffeehouse playlists (0.3555, SD = 0.3165).
| So, high acousticness is characteristic for Coffeehouse songs, whereas high energy is characteristic for Road Trip songs. Valence is higher in Coffeehouse playlists, and track popularity is higher in On the Road playlists. These four values are visualised in one plot to see a clear difference. Most of the Coffeehouse songs are in the left upper corner and On the Road songs are in the right lower corner. This figure indeed shows mostly high acoustiness and low energy in Coffeehouse, and high energy and low acousticness in On the Road. Songs with high energy and low acoustiness are happiest, but track popularity is not really clear. |
[1] 432.0 345.6
[1] 432.0 345.6